Officer Mike Mette is convicted of felony assault

[WaTcHeR]

Officer Mike Mette


July 13, 2007 - A Chicago Police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison. He says he was defending himself against a drunken attacker while off-duty in Iowa. A judge in Dubuque, Iowa, says the police officer should have simply run away.

Officer Mike Mette was convicted of felony assault. He has been removed from the Chicago Police Department and faces a stiff prison term in Iowa.
"I feel it's a complete miscarriage of justice," said Officer Michael Mette.

The case raises questions about fairness and just who was the victim.

This is not just a question of whether the punishment fits the crime. Chicago Police Officer Mike Mette says there was no crime. Nevertheless, a judge in Iowa this week sentenced Mette to five years behind bars for slugging a Dubuque college student, even though the judge admits Mette was being attacked at the time. No one is disputing the facts of the case of what happened that night, only the outcome is being questioned.

"My younger brother Marc was living in Dubuque, he went out there for his 25th birthday," said Michael Mette.

The party weekend took place October, 2005, near the University of Dubuque campus. Eleventh District Chicago Patrolman Mike Mette, his brother Marc and several friends went to a late night beer party in a nearby home thrown by a pair of university students, one of them 20-year-old Jake Gothard. According to authorities, Gothard was extremely drunk at the time.

"Yelling, makin' derogatory comments about us being six guys with no women with us," said Michael Mette.

Michael Mette says when he and his brother and their four friends tried to leave, Gothard became angry.

"He was just mad that we didn't want to stay and drink with him anymore," Michael Mette said.

Gothard and his roommate began chasing Mette and the five other men, claiming they had stolen his cell phone, until they all ended up on the front lawn of Marc Mette's house.

"Mr. Gothard approached me and told me he was going to beat the crap out of me, and he actually hit me with his two fists like this in the chest. Hit me three times. I pushed him away from me. Told him to leave. He comes back at me a fourth time and that's when, you know, when I hit him. I hit him in the left side of the face," said Michael Mette.

Moments later, when city police arrived on the scene, Gothard was still on the ground, having been cold cocked by Officer Mette's right hook. When Mette and the others described what happened, Dubuque Police arrested Mette, charging him with felony assault causing serious injury.

"Just because I am a police officer doesn't mean I'm supposed to take a beating," Michael Mette said.

"His conduct wasn't warranted," said Timothy Gallagher, assistant Dubuque County attorney.

The prosecutor who brought charges against Mette says it wasn't self-defense.

"Mr. Gothard received, as I recall, numerous cuts, abrasion bruises, head/brain bleeds," said Gallagher.

When the case went to a bench trial in December, Dubuque County Judge Monica Ackley found that Chicago Police Officer Mike Mette "was not the initial aggressor of this incident," Jake Gothard was. Nevertheless, Judge Ackley ruled that Mette was guilty, because even after Gothard struck him three times, Mette should have just ignored it and retreated.

"If I'm being attacked on my own property I should have the right to defend myself within reason," said Mette.

On Monday, Mette was sentenced to five years in prison.

"The court has no discretion in that matter. It's mandatory incarceration," said Gallagher.

Jake Gothard wasn't charged, although he has since been arrested for driving under the influence. He returned to compete in college golf tournaments and, apparently, to the party circuit, having displayed dozens of drinking photos on his Facebook page.

Jake Gothard, the official victim in the case, agreed to an interview Friday but then backed out on advice of his lawyer because he says they plan a civil suit against Officer Mette.

Former Officer Mette, who has been placed on unpaid status, is off the job as he appeals the conviction and sentence in Iowa.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=5478651

[doa]

ES MOINES, Iowa --

An appeals court Wednesday ordered a Chicago police officer freed from prison in an Iowa assault case that has top brass back home defending one of their own.

The Iowa Court of Appeals said Officer Michael Mette's trial judge had no testimony on which to base her ruling that he could have walked away from a fight with another man - but didn't.

Mette had argued self-defense in the 2005 fight in Dubuque with Jake Gothard that left Gothard with a fractured nose, cheek and jaw.

In November 2006, First Judicial District Judge Monica Ackley found Mette guilty of assault causing serious injury and sentenced him to five years. She said Mette was not the initial aggressor but could have retreated.

The case prompted an outcry in Chicago, where prominent officials, including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine and Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis, had called for Mette's release.

In its ruling, the appeals court found that there was no testimony to support Ackley's findings.

"After being pushed and knocked backwards two or three times, there was nothing in the record to indicate Michael could have avoided Gothard's next blow, without his defensive punch," the appeals court ruled. "While it may be possible to speculate on Michael's ability to retreat, the record is utterly void of any testimony to support that assumption."

The appeals court sent the case back to district court for a judgment of acquittal.

Jennifer Pomatto, Mette's sister, said the family is excited about the ruling.

"We hope to have him home by the end of the month and hopefully this will be the end of it," she said.

State prosecutors haven't yet decided whether to ask the Iowa Supreme Court to review the ruling, said Bill Roach, a spokesman for the Iowa attorney general's office.

A telephone message seeking comment from Dubuque County Attorney Ralph Potter wasn't immediately returned.

[WaTcHeR]

Officer Michael Mette

An appeals court on Wednesday ordered a Chicago police officer freed from prison in an Iowa assault case that has top brass back home defending one of their own.

The Iowa Court of Appeals said Officer Michael Mette's trial judge had no testimony on which to base her ruling that he could have walked away from a fight with another man _ but didn't.

Mette had argued self-defense in the 2005 fight in Dubuque with Jake Gothard that left Gothard with a fractured nose, cheek and jaw.

In November 2006, 1st Judicial District Judge Monica Ackley found Mette guilty of assault causing serious injury and sentenced him to five years. She said Mette was not the initial aggressor but could have retreated.

The case prompted an outcry in Chicago, where prominent officials _ including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine and Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis _ had called for Mette's release.

In its ruling, the appeals court found that there was no testimony to support Ackley's findings.

"After being pushed and knocked backwards two or three times, there was nothing in the record to indicate Michael could have avoided Gothard's next blow, without his defensive punch," the appeals court ruled. "While it may be possible to speculate on Michael's ability to retreat, the record is utterly void of any testimony to support that assumption."

The appeals court sent the case back to district court for a judgment of acquittal.

"I won't feel like a free man until I walk out that gate," Mette told The Associated Press on Wednesday in an interview at the state prison in Rockwell City.

"It's such a relief to get this over, and the way I've gone through my life, once I'm out of this gate, it's over," he said. "This part of it is done, and I go back and hopefully start my life where I stopped it back in 2005."

Jennifer Pomatto, Mette's sister, said the ruling excited the family.

"We hope to have him home by the end of the month, and hopefully this will be the end of it," she said.

Daley said in a statement that he was grateful the court reversed the decision, noting that Mette "did little or nothing to provoke" the incident.

State prosecutors haven't decided whether to ask the Iowa Supreme Court to review the ruling, said Bill Roach, a spokesman for the Iowa attorney general's office.

A telephone message seeking comment from Dubuque County Attorney Ralph Potter wasn't returned.


http://www.southernledger.com/ap/179794 ... r_be_freed